A Study On The Ecological Compensation Mechanism Of "Coal For Water"-based On The Perspective Of Law And Economics

For a long time，economics has almost possessed the main role in the area ofeconomic field and this behavior aims at forsaking the economic growth，which resultedin unsustainable development in many fields of the real economy，thus induce a varietyof social，economic and ecological problems. It makes people to reflect on thecorrectness of the theory applied in other areas，the birth of law and economics providesa new perspective and method for the reflection process. Law and economics thoughtfairness and efficiency as the main purpose，in order to provide the theory and methodfor solving the social and economic operation on some concrete problems.The symbiosis of coal and water，coal mining can produce huge economic benefits,but it also can produce certain effects and destruction of water resource. With the rapidgrowth and strength of the coal mining production continuously increased，thedestruction of the coal mining feild of groundwater，rivers are drying up，drinking waterproblems for human or animals，water pollution and other problems showed up.Shanxi has been one of our country’s main coal energy base since the ancient time.The exploitation and transportation of coal has made outstanding contributions toChinese economic and social development. However，due to the special natural andgeographical environment of Shanxi Province，the coal mining has been severelydamaged the water resources which is not sufficient originally. At the same time，coalmining area caused a series of ecological environment effects，such as the destruction ofthe coal mining regions of groundwater，the drying up of the river channels，drinkingwater problems for human or animals，water pollution and so on. As a result，waterresources becomes an obstacle to the sustainable development of Shanxi Province.“Thestrengths of Shanxi is coal，the weakness of Shanxi is water”. Lacking of water is thebasic condition of Shanxi，especially the extreme destruction of coal mining on waterresources is the objective reality which can not be avoided. Therefore，how to reduce theinfluence and destruction of coal mining on water resources and construct the ecologicalcompensation mechanism of“Coal for Water”，therefore，strengthening theimportance and authority of legal system in ecological compensation mechanism of “Coal for Water”，which has very important significance for the sustainabledevelopment of the whole ecological protection and construction.The study is based on the theory of law and economics，combined with othereconomic theories and methods，adopted the research method of qualitative analysis andquantitative analysis，theoretical analysis and empirical analysis. From the perspectiveof law and economics，this thesis uses fairness and efficiency as the starting point.Firstly，from the perspective of stakeholders，it conducts a game analysis between thecoal mining and water resource utilization. On this basis，the thesis uses two ways ofnumerical calculation on the destruction of the water resource in the coal miningprocess. According the relevant data of Shanxi Province，we use the ecologicalenvironment function valuation method to build a index system of accounting the lossvalue of coal mining on water resource，and then account the compensation costs forcompensation mechanism of impact and damage of coal mining on water resource. Theother investigates on the residents surrounding the main coal mine by using the CVM.According to the residents’WTA（Willingness to Accept）and WTP（Willingness to Pay）in survey area，we estimate the impact and damage of coal mining on water resources inShanxi by establishing econometric model. Secondly，the thesis constructs thecompensation mechanism for the impact and damage of coal mining on water resourcesand puts forward relevant policy suggestions. The compensation mechanism includescompensation principle，the subject of compensation mechanism，the standards and theestablishment of implementation of compensation. According to results of the analysis，selecting the “Pigovian taxes”and “Property”of the compensation path—the centralgovernment compensate for the prevention of protected areas through fiscal means，establishing the water ecological environment protection fund， market-orientedapproach and ecological financing. There are direct financial compensation，industrycompensation，personnel compensation and other compensation.The main conclusions and suggestions of this study：（1）The interest subjects of coal mining and water conservation include thecentral government，the local government，coal companies and community residents andso on. As is shown from the multiple game of stakeholders，under the existing system，the conflicts of interest between all the stakeholders cannot be effectively reconciled， leading to inevitably unbalanced interests. Therefore，in order to restore interestscoordination mechanism in coal mining among all the interest subjects，it is necessary toestablish ecological compensation mechanism of “Coal for Water”.（2）According to the ecological environment function valuation methods，accounting the compensate costs for the impact and damage of coal mining on waterresources in Shanxi，and give direct market approach estimates the value of the loss ofwater caused by coal mining，and come into the Big Coal Mining Times ton of coalmine drainage coefficient of0.42，according to this we can know the economic lossesdue to coal mining caused damage to groundwater resources in Shanxi Province is1.036billion Yuan in2013. Using the market value method for economic losses ofresidents’water shortages in Shanxi caused by coal mining is383million Yuan in2013.Pollution value accounting will mainly consider the loss of water for people andlivestock caused by coal mining，the cost of the discharge of industrial waste watertreatment，mine drainage pollution loss，these three losses totaled3.158billion Yuan. In2013，the mining became irrigated dry land caused economic losses of425millionYuan，the economic losses of soil erosion is300million Yuan by using the opportunitycost calculation. The conclusion that the compensation expense for the impact anddamage of coal mining on water resources in Shanxi Province is5.312billion Yuan in2013.（3）This thesis uses the valuation analysis to analyze the residents’WTP andWTA who living in coal surrounding areas. After the analysis of the respondents’WTPand WTA，measuring the WTP of the impact and damage of water caused by coalmining is109.5Yuan every year，according to this calculating the WTP of the of theimpact and damage of water caused by coal mining in Shanxi Province is2.931billionYuan. The WTA of the impact and damage of water caused by the coal mining is164.8Yuan every year，we can come to the conclusion that the impact and damage of waterresources caused by coal mining in Shanxi province is about5.196billion Yuan.Combining the second and the third conclusion，taking the average value5.254billionYuan as the loss of water resource caused by the coal mining in Shanxi Province.Based on the above research conclusions，this thesis put forward to strengthen theconstruction and improvement of the system，such as laws and regulations，supervision mechanism，the fund system，the construction and improvement of the technicalguarantee system，etc.，which is the fundamental guarantee to build“Coal for Water”of ecological compensation mechanism.This thesis has three innovations in the following：（1）This thesis constructs the ecological compensation mechanism of“Coal forWater”from the law and economics. Fairness and efficiency are the basic problems inthe law and economics，which provides a way to overall consideration of fairness andefficiency in the process of coal mining. In order to realize the fairness and efficiencyamong the interest subjects，it needs to design the ecological compensation mechanismof “Coal for Water”through legal regulations. What’s more，the legal regulation canbenefit the balance of the interests in coal mining，and promote the sustainabledevelopment of coal resources.（2）According to the actual situation of coal mining on the loss of water resourcesin Shanxi，this thesis adopts the direct market method to analyzing the loss of water incoal mining. It provides a relatively objective method for estimating the loss of waterresources in the age of large mining era of Shanxi Province，which is beneficial for thescientific，fair，timely and proper treatment in the repair of water restorationcompensation. The research results can provide an important guidance to buildcompensation mechanism in Shanxi coal mining on water resources effect and damage.（3）Compared to the related research on ecological compensation，the contingentvaluation method is still less which applied on the assessment of water resources in thecoal mining process. Through the analysis of WTP and WTA of residents surroundingthe coal mine area，on the basis of the survey on the resident’s WTP around the keycoal mine area in Shanxi Province，we establish econometric model to calculate thedestruction of water resources in coal mining in Shanxi by using contingent valuationmethod，thereby it deduces the compensation value，the findings provide certainreference value for the establishment of compensation mechanism.